Taken by Darkness

She bit her lower lip at his frigid tone, her expression rueful.

“I do not think that you do, Victor, and it’s no wonder. I am making a complete muddle of this.”

“Of your wish to return to Hawthorne?”

“Of my very awkward proposal.”

“Proposal?”

She licked her lips, the nervous gesture astonishingly charming.

“Victor, would you be my mate?”

A wary hope replaced the icy chill of rejection, although he was careful to hide it behind a scowl. He might be mated, but that did not mean he had lost all pride.

“Juliet?”

Her breath caught, a hint of distress marring her beautiful face. “What? Did I do something wrong? Are women not allowed to—”

He captured her lips in a kiss of urgent longing, allowing her to feel just how desperately he wanted to complete their bonding.

“You are certain?” he muttered between frenzied kisses. “The mating is irrevocable.”

Her hands moved in a restless path up and down his back, each caress sending sizzling sparks of heat through his body.

“This mating has been irrevocable from the beginning,” she muttered.

“Thank the gods.” Kissing a path along her jaw, he paused to revel in the poignant scent of peaches and willing woman. “I did not believe you would ever come to your senses.”

She chuckled. “There are many who would claim I have lost them completely.”

He pulled back, his fangs throbbing in protest. This was too important a moment to rush.

“And what of you, little one?”

“Me?”

“Does the thought of becoming my mate please you?”

Her expression was somber as she framed his face in her hands. “Victor, since my parents’ death I have sought a place to call home.”

He frowned at the tender ache he could feel blooming in the center of her heart. It bothered him that he was helpless to protect her from the wounds of the past.

“You have never revealed how your parents were killed,” he said gently.

She winced, but she did not pull away. A victory, considering Juliet had never before trusted him enough to share her secrets.

“My father was considered beautiful, even among the fey,” she said, her voice so low even his acute hearing struggled to catch the words.

His gaze skimmed over her delicate features, lingering on the wide emerald eyes that spoke of her fey blood.

“That I well believe.”

A tremor shook her slender body, her nails unconsciously digging into his back. It was a pain Victor welcomed, wishing he could take away her wounds.

“Unfortunately, he attracted the attention of Morgana le Fey.”

Victor was startled by the mention of the queen. It had been centuries since she had retreated behind her protective mists.

“I did not know she ever left Avalon.”

“It was rumored she was hunting for some mystical weapon that is destined to kill her.” The emerald eyes flashed with a long-brewing hatred. “Instead she found my father.”

“And desired to take him as her lover.”

“Yes.”

Victor had heard rumors of the queen’s insatiable lust for beautiful men, as well as her habit of treating them like pretty baubles that were inevitably destroyed when she grew bored.

Juliet’s father had been destined for death from the moment he had caught the eye of the fickle Morgana le Fey.

“I presume your father declined her royal invitation?”

“He was not foolish enough to publicly reject her, but he attempted to flee with my mother and myself.”

“Morgana was no doubt displeased.”

“She commanded that we be hunted down and slaughtered.”

Victor flinched as his bond with Juliet allowed him to feel the savage intensity of her loss.

“They died to protect you.”

“Yes.” Her gaze lowered, as if she could hide the tears that filled her eyes. “They died and I was alone.”

“Never again,” Victor swore, cupping her chin and lifting her face until he could capture her bruised gaze. “I will be at your side for all eternity.”

Her hands swept up his back, the shadows lingering in her eyes.

“Victor.”

“Yes, my love?”

“I want you to be my mate.”

A fierce surge of savage hunger combined with pure joy in a potent explosion that left Victor reeling from the impact. Suddenly he felt as uncertain and awkward as a newly turned fledgling.

“Now?” he husked.

A smile of pure invitation curved her lips. “Now.”

“Bloody hell.”

Any hope of a slow, dignified mating that would reveal to Juliet just how much she meant to him was lost as he muttered a curse and swept her heavy curtain of hair to one side, exposing the vulnerable curve of her neck.

He had an eternity to prove just how much he adored her.

For now, he was desperate to make this woman his.

His lover, his partner, his mate.

With one smooth strike his fangs slid easily through her skin, the taste of her blood hitting his tongue with staggering force.

It was perfect.